Insights from a comparison of conventional toxic and radioactive waste: Objective and project longevity of programmes

Questions concerning 'how safe is safe enough?', and which levels of risk are acceptable, are societal questions. Geological disposal is a socio-technical issue, not solely a technical one. Neither context, social nor technical, can dominate the other. The role of the regulator with regard to this integration needs to be stressed. There needs to be the combination of technical barriers and passive geology together with archives and symbols. There is a clear need for independent, multidisciplinary regulatory body / bodies, including safety authorities and pluralistic oversight committees, which must be able to implement of the principle of causality, provide competent oversight and ensure public involvement. In this context, the RISCOM model was referred to (cf. www.karita.se/our_approach/riscom_model.php). When the geological disposal facility is sealed, the knowledge management needs to be taken over by an institution with a chance of surviving longer historical periods - presumably, the nation state, so that the reasoning behind the safety case is traceable. In summary, the preservation of records, knowledge and memory across generations is potentially achievable via a trans-disciplinary, trans-political, trans-generational and socio-technical defense-in- depth process ensuring/aiming at a societal ownership of the problem over time